Fever and Extreme Hyperglycemia
I have noticed when I was younger,
when my blood glucose control was poor, that when I got a cold or infection, I
usually got a fever. As I got older and
my blood glucose control improved I have noticed that I would get sick but not
get a fever. I do not remember having
had a fever for at least ten years. In
the past year my blood glucose control has been near normal most of the time
(this will be explained later). When I
am sick I just feel tired and out of it, major symptoms are less pronounced and
fevers are not there.
Type 1 diabetics have blood
glucose controlled by exogenous insulin and may therefore not experience spikes
in blood glucose levels. I speculate
that perhaps hyperglycemia is an important natural phenomenon that triggers an
immune response and fevers, that non-diabetics would have while they have an
infection, without even being aware of it (because they don’t check their blood
glucose.) Could ketoacidosis have been
the likely cause of many deaths attributed to fevers?